Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Willie Dennis wsa born William DeBerardinis on January 10, 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After working with Elliot Lawrence, Claude Thornhill, and Sam Donahue, he went to work with Charles Mingus, appearing on two of Mingus’s albums in 1959, Blues & Roots and Mingus Ah Um. In 1953, due to his relationship with Mingus he recorded Four Trombones (on the bassist’s Debut Records label and was released in 1957. The other three trombones were J. J. Johnson, Kai Winding and Bennie Green.

In 1951, Dennis began studying with Lennie Tristano. To make ends meet, he worked as an attendant at the Museum of Modern Art. The fullest recorded example of Dennis’s solo work is on a little-known 1956 Savoy disc by English pianist Ronnie Ball, who was also a Tristano student. The album was titled All About Ronnie, and included Ted Brown and Kenny Clarke.

He toured with Mingus in 1956, published an essay, The History of the Trombone, in Metronome. By the late 1950s Willie had returned to his big band roots and joined Buddy Rich in 1959 after stints with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman. During the 1960s, he often performed with Gerry Mulligan.

He had an extremely fast articulation on the trombone, which he obtained by means of varying the natural harmonics of the instrument with minimal recourse to the slide, a technique known as crossing the grain. He recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Manny Albam, Al Cohn, Mundell Lowe, Gary McFarland, Gerry Mulligan, Oliver Nelson, Anita O’Day, Shirley Scott, Zoot Sims and Phil Woods.

Known for his big band musicianship but who could also execute as an excellent bebop soloist, trombonist Willie Dennis, who was married to Morgana King in 1961, transitioned due to an automobile accident in Central Park on July 8, 1965 in New York City.

More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone